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Blood and the Moon: Part 1
Blood and the Moon: Part 1 is the eighteenth episode of Tech 10: Star Spirit, and the sixth episode of the second season. Episode to a dark room, where an unseen person is speaking on the phone. ???: “And you’re sure your “Zodiac Organization” has the money to pay for all this?” The unseen figure stayed silent for a few moments as the person on the other end of the line replied. ???: “Alright. However, if there are any complications beyond what we’ve discussed, I will hold you responsible for them. The guild has wasted away enough as it is, and I don’t need any of its remaining members arrested.” There were another few moments of silence. ???: “In that case, the deal is set. I will send the rest of my troops to the Earth base. I expect to see you there.” The unseen figure put down the phone, getting up out of their chair and walking out of the room. After a few moments, a ghostly figure faded into view, wearing a purple Omnitrix symbol on its chest. Moranna/Briiz: (Thinking) This seems to be my lucky day. ---- to the inside of Plumber Base UT1. Reaper is sharpening the blade of his scythe as Pyros and F3 seem to be arguing about pizza toppings. Herc and Nova are sitting together, talking about something. Herc: “And then, believe it or not, the moron calls the lead Zenturi a “little shit”, and proceeds to summon a god damn taco.” Nova: “My dad did all that? But he’s so laid back!” Herc: “Yeah, maybe nowadays. Back then, he would kick your ass first and ask questions maybe. Likely while giving an over-the-top speech.” Nova: “Wow.” Herc: “I know, right?! It’s a wonder someone like that ended up even finding a date at some point, much less reproducing.” Nova: “I think he probably matured a bit before meeting my mom, since she never really mentioned all this weird stuff you’re talking about.” Herc: “I guess that makes sense. Come to think of it, who was your mother, anyway? Napoleon doesn’t really talk about her.” Nova: “Kara Everett. She and dad met in college and hit it off instantly, from what I’ve heard. She ended up becoming friends with Theo’s parents once they met, so it was a pretty good situation all around.” Herc: “Hm. Why haven't I heard anything about her? Did she leave?” Nova’s expression fell, changing the tone of the conversation from relatively light to something more depressing. Nova: (Quietly) “She...died when I was nine. I'd rather not talk about it.” Herc: “Oh. Shit.” There were a few moments of awkward silence. Herc: “...Sorry for bringing it up.” Nova: “No, no, it’s okay. It would’ve come up at some point anyways.” The base’s alert system suddenly began blaring, prompting everyone to gather around the computer console near Alpha. Pyros: “What now?” F3: “Is it space bugs? Please tell me it’s space bugs.” Alpha: “Nothing like that, I’m afraid.” Reaper: “More activity from the Zodiac Organization?” Alpha: “Correct. After collecting footage of specific locations over the past few weeks, we’ve been able to pinpoint what appears to be an underground base near the outskirts of the city. It doesn’t appear on any records, and there aren’t any underground building permits filed for the area, which is what made it suspicious to us.” Herc: “I’m guessing there’s more to it than that if you need us to do something about it.” Alpha: (Nods) “The cameras we have focused on the location would go out every now and then, which was initially chocked up to an error during the installation process. However, an overhead drone was sent to investigate the area earlier today, and captured what appeared to be several troop-carrying stealth cruisers entering a cloaked hangar of some sort. As soon as it got within 100 meters of the hangar, however, the feed cut out.” Reaper: “That could be a problem. If this has been going on for a while, there could be an entire militia in there we don’t know about.” Alpha: “And as if that wasn’t enough to warrant investigation, the leader of the Zodiac Organization and his assistant were seen entering the area just now. Needless to say, investigation of this base is at an extremely high priority.” Herc: “We’ll head out right away.” Alpha: “Good. I would recommend avoiding combat as much as possible, just in case. We don’t know what’s down there.” Reaper: “We’ll make sure to be careful. If anything goes wrong, we should be able to bail out.” Alpha: “Noted.” The team dispersed, each member hastily preparing for the upcoming mission. ---- to the dark European countryside of another timeline. The moon is full, shining down upon the landscape with an eerie yellow glow. After a few moments, Clockwork and Aeron emerge from a red portal, which closes behind them. Aeron: (Looking around) “Hey, this place has a pretty nice aesthetic. A bit in-your-face, though. What is this, Transylvania?” Clockwork: “Yes.” Aeron: (Turns to Clockwork) “What?” Clockwork: “Yes, this is Transylvania.” Aeron: (Grumbles) “Oh, for the love of...okay, two things: first, why are we in Transylvania?” Clockwork: (Shrugs) “I wasn’t very picky about the entry point to this timeline, so we could have ended up anywhere on the European continent, really.” Aeron: “Why are we still in Europe?!” Clockwork: “Our location drifts around a bit during timeline jumping, but generally not by an entire continent or so unless I want it to. Only reason we ended up in Europe in the first place is because I was trying to get us away from where Theodore lived in America.” Aeron: “Okay, that still sounds stupid, but whatever. Second question: you said this timeline was supposed to power me up or something to help fight off that pain in my ass. How we do that?” Clockwork: “To be more specific, this timeline has a much higher natural connection to magic and mana than ours does. I figured we could have you learn some magic, or at the very lest, grab some enchantments to make you less vulnerable.” Aeron: “Wouldn’t that take a while, though? I’m not keen on standing around until Theo gets here to kick my ass again.” Clockwork: “If only you had an alien that could control time or something.” Aeron: “Okay, first of all, shut up. You’re making me look bad.” Clockwork: “You did not need my help with that, trust me.” Aeron: (Ignoring Clockwork) “Second of all, where do we start?” Clockwork: (Points behind Aeron) “Well, I’m willing to bet that ancient castle over there might have some old tomes or something.” Aeron turned around to find an old stone castle sitting atop a nearby mountain. It appeared to be abandoned, with large vines growing across the crumbling walls. Aeron: “This is not helping the Scooby-Doo comparison.” Clockwork: “Uncanny, isn’t it?” Aeron: “I hate you so much right now.” ---- to the area seen on the Plumber’s security feed earlier. The sun is setting across the horizon as a white minivan with green accents skids across the road, swerving into a nearby parking lot and making a haphazard sideways slide into a parking spot. After a few moments, the van’s doors open up as Nova’s team exits the vehicle, with everyone except F3 looking rather dizzy. Herc: (Regaining his balance) “Where the hell did you learn to drive?!” F3: “Dan’s Discount Driving Academy. The whole course only cost fifty dollars in cash!” Herc: (Rolls his eyes) “Why am I not surprised?” Reaper: “Let’s get moving. We don’t have any time to waste.” The team began moving through the area, warily keeping an eye on their surroundings. F3: “You know, we really need a name for this team.” Herc: “Is that really your biggest concern at the moment?” Pyros: “I think he’s got a point. But what would we name ourselves?” F3: “How about “The F3 Squad”?” Else: (Unanimously) “NO.” F3: (Shrugs) “It was just a suggestion.” Nova: “Well, since Alpha is the one in charge of dispatching us, maybe something like “Alpha Team”?” Pyros: “That...doesn’t sound too bad, actually.” F3: “I could live with it.” Reaper: “I honestly don’t care what the name is.” Herc: “If it gets this asinine conversation over with faster, I’m good with anything.” Nova: “Alright, Alpha Team it is.” They continued moving in silence, eventually reaching the cloaked hangar. F3 tapped on the invisible wall in front of them a couple times, causing a ripple effect in the cloaking field. F3: “So...how do we get in?” Herc: “There’s probably a keypad or something mounted on the outside of the building. We need to find that and-” Herc was interrupted by the sound of clashing and tearing metal, followed by a loud thud. He turned to find that Reaper had carved out a chunk of the wall with his scythe. Herc: “I take it we’re ditching the whole “stealth” thing.” Reaper: “We’re on an unknown time limit with this. There’s a time for stealth, and a time for bludgeoning your way through anything in your path.” Nova: “Besides, it doesn’t seem like any alarms went off or anything. We should be fine.” Herc: (Sighs) “Whatever. What’s done is done, so let’s just get moving.” The team walked in through the hole, disappearing into the cloaked building. ---- to Final Countdown emerging from a portal onto a path leading to the castle seen earlier. He presses down on the StarTrix symbol, reverting back to human and looking around. Theo: “...Well, I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I still gotta wonder what’s up with the castle.” After a few moments, he shrugged and began walking towards the castle. Theo: “Knowing Aeron, he’s probably in there for the sheer over-the-top factor.” As he approached the castle, he began noticing scuff marks and recently dug-up dirt lining the ground. Raising an eyebrow at this, he continued walking nonetheless. As he drew near to the courtyard, the ground around him suddenly started shaking. Theo: “What the...Aeron doesn’t have an earth-controlling alien, does he?” Theo’s question was soon answered by the true cause of the ground’s shaking swiftly revealing itself. Said cause happened to be a horde of undead soldiers at varying levels of decay suddenly exploding out of the earth. Theo: “...At this point, I really wish I was more surprised by this.” ---- to the Alpha Team sneaking through the inside of the cloaked hangar. Troop-carrying stealth cruisers fill the area, parked in a diagonal formation. Pyros: “Yo, uh, this might be a dumb question, but shouldn’t we ‘ave seen some guards or somethin’ by now?” Herc: “That is kind of weird.” Reaper: “Not necessarily. If their security measures are good enough, they’d likely avoid posting a regular guard to maximize manpower in other areas.” Herc: “Of course, that brings up the question of what those security measures might be.” F3: “Hey, I just thought of this, but what if they have hidden cameras in here?” Reaper: (Pulls a small black box out of his cloak) “Fortunately, I thought of that possibility before we left, so I brought a signal jammer. If there are hidden feeds of any sort in the area, the only thing they’re seeing at the moment is static.” They continued through the hangar until they reached what appeared to be an elevator. The doors to it were closed off, with a keypad on the wall nearby indicating that they needed a code to open it. Pyros: “Yeah, I ain’t smart enough to figure out lock codes, so y’all’re gonna have to take care ‘a this one.” Nova: “We might not have to figure anything out. I remember my dad using Swarm 1 to interface with the Plumber’s computer system while he was repairing it. Do you think Swarm 2 could do the same kind of thing?” Herc: “Only one way to find out.” Nova nodded and walked up to the keypad, placing her right hand over it. Golden nanobots attached themselves to the device, creating a small beeping sound. Seconds later, the doors to the elevator opened. Herc: “Not bad.” Nova: (Faking offense) “Not bad? I’d give that at least a “Pretty good”.” Herc: “Well, we can’t have you getting too full of yourself.” Nova: “Yeah, whatever.” The team piled into the elevator, which turned out to be a surprisingly open space, likely used for transporting large cargo. There were only two levels present on the button pad, one for the main floor and one for the underground area. F3 pressed the bottom one and the elevator’s doors closed, shortly after which the elevator began to move downwards. Very, very slowly. Nova: “Oh boy, this is gonna take a while.” ---- to Aeron and Clockwork emerging from another portal into the stone castle. They’ve emerged into what appears to be an expansive library, with stuffed shelves lining the walls all the way up to the ceiling high above. Small brackets stick out of the walls occasionally, indicating that there was once scaffolding to access the books up above. Clockwork: (Stares at the architecture) “Wow...this is actually pretty incredible. Do you have any idea how much work building this room probably took?” Aeron: (Waving him off) “Yeah yeah yeah, that’s nice. Now let’s find a spell to blow things up or something.” Clockwork: (Sighs) “Some people have no sense of grandeur.” Clockwork dissipated, leaving Aeron alone in the library. He walked over to a nearby shelf and began going through the books lining it, tossing some of them aside as he deemed them unhelpful. ???: “Don’t you know it’s rude to snoop around other people’s possessions?” Aeron jumped a bit and turned around to find a tall man clad in ornate golden and white clothing descending from the top part of the room, seemingly flying under his own power. His hair was a light blonde, and he wore a golden headband with a teal gemstone inset on the front of it. There was a strangely-shaped golden bracelet on his right wrist that was decorated with odd runes. Aeron: “Uh...who are you supposed to be?” ???: “My name is Rozalio Gold. I am the owner of this castle and everything inside it. Which would include the ancient tomes you’re manhandling at the moment.” Aeron: “Oh. I didn’t see any lights or anything, so I just assumed the place was abandoned.” Rozalio: “I don’t need light to see. Wait here for a moment, please.” Rozalio levitated up to the top of the room, grabbing a stone tablet off of one of the shelves before hovering back to the ground. Up close, it could be seen that the tablet had a circular rune carved into the top of it. Rozalio: (Points to the main chunk of the tablet) “Place your hand here.” Aeron: “...Seriously? How dumb do you think I am?” Rozalio: “You wouldn’t like the answer to that.” Aeron rolled his eyes at this, but after a few moments, he put his right hand on the tablet anyways. Aeron: “If this is a trap, I’m gonna kick your ass.” Rozalio: (Half-listening) “I’m sure you will.” The rune at the top of the tablet suddenly lit up with a dim, blood-red glow. Gaining a somewhat disappointed look, Rozalio drew back the tablet, causing the glow to fade. Rozalio: “Well, I suppose it was a long shot anyways. Back you go.” Rozalio took a few moments to place the tablet back in its place, then levitated back down to Aeron. Rozalio: “Now, I assume there’s a reason you’re looking through ancient tomes at a castle you believed to be abandoned?” Aeron: “Yeah, I need to learn some magic to kill my annoying alternate counterpart.” Rozalio: “...You’re very blunt about it.” Aeron: (Turns back to looking through the books) “What’s the point in keeping it secret? He’s the only person I’m actually worried about beating me. I could kill you whenever I want. Probably will when I’m done looking through these, come to think of it.” Rozalio: “By all means, you’re welcome to try.” Aeron turned around to respond to this, but Rozalio had somehow already made his way over to a nearby shelf, going through a book written in a script Aeron didn’t recognize. Shrugging at this, Aeron turned back to the bookshelf he was going through. After a few moments, Clockwork summoned himself in a flash of red energy. If Rozalio even noticed this, he didn’t seem to react to it. Clockwork: “Aeron, I don’t know about this. This guy seems awfully confident in himself.” Aeron: “Tch, so what? I’ve killed lots of cocky people before.” Clockwork: “True as that may be, I have a bad feeling about this one in particular.” Aeron: (Rolls his eyes) “Ugh, fine. If it bothers you that much, just stop time so I can kill him whenever I get around to it without any issues.” Clockwork: “That’s probably wise.” Clockwork sent out a red wave of energy, causing the surrounding area to become grayed-out as time stopped around them. After a few more moments of browsing, Aeron finally picked out a book and began reading, with Clockwork looking on from over his shoulder. They quickly became engrossed in their reading, so much so that neither of them noticed Rozalio slowly turning his head to look at them, his eyes flashing a dangerous red. ---- back to Theo, who is currently surrounded by zombies and skeletons wearing armor and wielding swords and shields. One skeleton with a partially metal jaw is standing off to the side, casually watering some flowers. Theo: “Alrighty then, if all those horror movies are any indication, the best way to handle any situation is with the age-old solution of killing it with fire!” Theo swiftly pulled up the StarTrix and transformed into Kugelblitz. Theo/Kugelblitz: “Well, re-kill it with fire, in this case.” The undead army paused for a moment in apparent surprise, then began lunging at Kugelblitz all at once (Save for the skeleton with the metal jaw, who was still busy watering the flowers). Kugelblitz twirled around in a circle, unleashing a stream of flames as he did so and setting some of the nearby zombies on fire, but having little effect on the skeletons. Kugelblitz: “Let's see if we can't rattle some bones!” Surrounding his fists with fire, Kugelblitz began punching wildly at the undead army, burning them as he bludgeoned them to pieces. No matter how many members of the undead horde he killed, however, more and more kept coming, forcing him to assume a more defensive strategy. Eventually, one of the skeletons broke through his defense and swung its broadsword at him, forcing him to dodge. Without much space to work with, the sword ended up slicing part of his chest, causing him to yell in pain. Kugelblitz: “Alright asshole, no more mister nice alien!” Kugelblitz suddenly created an explosion of fire, knocking away part of the undead horde surrounding him. His skin and fire became a fiery blue, with the flames emerging from his body increasing in size and intensity. Kugelblitz: “Now you’ve got me really Fired Up!” Kugelblitz began punching harder and faster than before, mowing through the approaching waves of the undead like a vengeful lawnmower that had been forcefully commandeered by Ghost Rider. Unfortunately, he seemed to have forgotten that lots of fire plus limited fighting space equals way, way too much heat concentrated in a single area. After only a few minutes of this, the StarTrix symbol began beeping, signaling that it was starting to overheat. Attempting to reach for the dial, Kugelblitz kept being interrupted by the constantly advancing army of the undead. Kugelblitz: “You have got to be kidding me.” ---- to the Alpha Team waiting around in the elevator. Pyros is leaning against the wall, F3 has apparently fallen asleep standing up, Reaper is polishing the blade of his scythe, Herc is absentmindedly shifting his right arm into random shapes, and Nova is impatiently tapping her foot on the floor. Nova: “Can’t we just cut through the floor or something?” Herc: “And face a fall of unknown height to an unknown destination? Frankly, I’d rather be bored than dead.” Nova: “What if I used Silver Mt. Zion? She can fly and protect you guys from whatever’s down there.” Herc: “Which would be all well and good if that form wasn’t too big for the elevator.” Nova: “Oh.” There were another few minutes of silence. Nova: “But seriously, if something engaging doesn’t happen in like five minutes, I’m gonna lose it.” Nova turned and pointed to Reaper. Nova: “Yo, tall, dark, and spooky. You still haven’t told us about any of what your deal is. There’s gotta be some interesting stuff behind you.” Reaper: “I suppose “interesting” is one way to put it. I don’t particularly care for living in the past, though. I’ve done a lot of things I regret.” Nova: “Dammit, Reaper! That just made me even more curious!” Reaper: (Shrugs) “If it’s any consolation, you could probably put together the pieces yourself with some extra information.” Nova: “What extra information?!” Reaper: “Try talking to-” Reaper was suddenly interrupted by a loud thud from outside the elevator, indicating that something had fallen onto the top of it. F3: (Snapping awake) “What’s going on?! Are we being attacked?!” Herc: “I don’t know. Everybody, ready your weapons.” Pyros created a small fireball in his left hand as F3 coated his fists in clouds of sleep dust. Reaper assumed a battle stance with his scythe, Herc shifted his right arm into a laser shotgun, and Nova used Swarm 1 to construct large dual gauntlets. After a tense few moments of staring at the ceiling, a short blade coated in Taydenite stabbed through the roof of the elevator, steadily carving out a circular shape. Once the circle was complete, the loose slab of metal was kicked into the elevator, followed by a masked figure in purple clothing dropping to the floor and swiftly assuming a battle position, making a quick visual scan of the room. Upon seeing Nova, the figure paused and lowered its weapon in surprise, taking off its mask. Nova: (Eyes widen) “Mrs. Logical?!” Moranna: “Nova?! What are you doing here?!” There were a few moments of awkward silence. F3: “Well, I, for one, have absolutely no idea what’s going on.” ---- back to Aeron and Clockwork reading. The camera suddenly cuts to show the area behind them, revealing Rozalio approaching the two menacingly. Aeron: “Hey, Clockwork? You ever get the feeling you’re being watched?” Clockwork: “Occasionally, I suppose. Why-” Clockwork was interrupted by Rozalio’s left hand suddenly exploding through his head, shattering the glass and metal comprising his body with ease. Clockwork’s body dissipated, forcing time to resume flowing as normal. Aeron whipped around to find Rozalio brushing himself off. Aeron: “Wh-what the hell?! How did you move in stopped time?!” Rozalio: “That was a Chronosapien you summoned, correct?” Aeron: “Yeah, but how do you-” Rozalio: “Even in this realm, which I’m sure isn’t quite as technologically advanced as whichever realm you’re from, we hold some knowledge about the existence of extraterrestrial life and how they work. Take this, for example.” Rozalio held up his right wrist, placing his golden bracelet on full display. Rozalio: “This is the “World Brace”, an ancient artifact forged from the remains of a deceased Chronosapien. Combined with the forger’s own magic, the time energy created by the Chronosapien’s gear system was infused into the brace, allowing the wearer to manipulate time in much the same manner as they can, albeit to an admittedly less impressive extent. The only true downside is that wearing it ages the user about ten times faster than they would age naturally.” Aeron: “But...you’re, like, in your late twenties! Are you actually 2 years old or something?!” Rozalio: “When I first wore the brace, I was in my early twenties, actually. Fortunately, I was able to find a way around the aging problem while I was still in my prime, relatively speaking.” Aeron: “How long ago did you put it on?” Rozalio: “Hard to say. It’s been a while. Around seven hundred years or so, I’d say.” Aeron: (Eyes widen) “How the hell-” Rozalio: “Hold that thought for a moment. I still need to attend to my hand.” Aeron looked down at the hand Rozalio used to destroy Clockwork, finding it to be extensively cut up thanks to wounds caused by broken glass and metal. Rozalio lifted up his hand and seemed to meditate for a moment. Almost immediately afterward, the wounds on his hand closed up and healed without any indication that they had ever been there. Aeron: “What the hell is going on?!” Rozalio: “Even someone as dim as you should have figured this out by now, you know. If I must spell it out for you...” Rozalio’s eyes glowed a bright blood red as he flashed a toothy grin, revealing long fangs in place of his canines. Rozalio: “I’ve been a vampire for quite literally centuries, and against all odds, you’re still probably the most insufferable person I’ve ever encountered.” ---- back to Kugelblitz fighting off the skeletons and zombies, quickly creating a short explosion of fire to buy himself a couple seconds. Kugelblitz: “Activate STAR fo-” He was cut off by one of the advancing skeletons bashing him in the gut with its shield, knocking the wind out of him. Before he could recover, the StarTrix timed out, reverting him to human. The skeleton raised its sword above his head and began to swing down towards him. Unable to dodge in time, Theo could do nothing but close his eyes and brace for impact. Said impact never came. After a few seconds, Theo opened his eyes, finding that the world around him had grayed out, time evidently having stopped moving. Theo: “What the hell? Did Aeron do this?” Carefully stepping out from under the sword, Theo began trying to figure out what was going on. Theo: “No, that doesn’t make sense. If Aeron did this, why would I still be moving?” ???: “Excellent question! I guess it must run in your family!” Theo whirled around to find an odd man wearing a striped red and orange suit sitting on a nearby stone wall. The man wore a top hat that matched his suit perfectly, some sort of metallic visor over his eyes, and held a wooden cane with a comically oversized crystal ball affixed to the end of it. Theo: “Uh...who are you?” ???: “Why, I’m The Jester, of course! Were you expecting someone else?” ---- to the elevator, where Nova and Moranna are staring at each other in confusion. Moranna: “Does your father know you’re here?” Nova: “Yeah. Well, not here exactly, but out doing this kinda stuff, yeah.” Moranna: (Gestures to the rest of the Alpha Team) “And these are...?” Nova: “A temporary Plumber team Alpha had me assemble. Long story.” F3: “Wait, so, just to clarify, this person who ominously dropped in from the ceiling isn’t an enemy?” Nova: “She’s Theo’s mom.” F3: “Oh, okay. Not sure what I’m gonna do with all this sleep dust, then.” There were a couple seconds of silence. F3: (Shrugs) “Eh.” With that, he punched himself in the face, knocking himself out almost instantly. Moranna stared at him in confusion. Moranna: “...And these are the people you chose?” Herc: “Don’t lump the rest of us in with that moron. My name’s Herculian, Herc for short. I worked with Napoleon when he was a teenager.” Moranna: “Right, I remember him mentioning you occasionally.” Moranna turned and gestured to Pyros and Reaper. Moranna: “And you two are...?” Pyros: “The name is Pyros. As you should be able to tell, fire is kinda my thing.” Reaper: “Call me Reaper. We’ve met before, actually, but I doubt you’d remember me, seeing as how you never really saw my face.” Moranna: (Raises an eyebrow) “Hm. Since you five are a Plumber team, I suppose you’re here investigating the Assassin’s Guild as well?” Nova: “The what now?” Herc: “We only got dispatched here because of suspicious activity from the Zodiac Organization.” Moranna: “Can’t say I’ve heard of them. The Assassin’s Guild is who runs this place. I’ve been investigating them for years, and it seems like they’ve transferred all their remaining troops to this location for whatever reason.” Nova: “Wait, for years? Why are these people so important to you?” Moranna: “I have...unfinished business with them. Business that’s gone far too long without resolution. I had hoped I could take them down while their troops were gathered all in one place, preferably without killing anyone. If worse came to worse, I did have a backup plan that would involve burying them alive, but with you five here, that’s not really an option.” Herc: “”Unfinished business” sounds like an understatement here.” Moranna: “It is, but I’m not about to spill everything about my past to four strangers and my son’s friend.” Reaper: “I can relate.” Moranna: (Pauses for a moment, then turns to face Nova) “...Come to think of it, Theodore said he was out and about with you. I find that hard to believe at the moment, seeing as he’s nowhere in sight.” Nova: (Nervously) “Uh...would you believe he decided to walk home?” Moranna: (Eyes narrow) “Frankly, no. Where. Is. Theodore?” ---- back to Theo and The Jester. Theo is staring at The Jester with a confused expression. Theo: “I...what?” Jester: “Well, you probably weren’t expecting Kroz, I can guess that much. The guy’s so gung-ho about the whole “rebuilding his civilization” thing that he didn’t even show up to help when the universe was ending! How rude can you be?!” Theo: “Uh-” Jester: “Honestly, I feel like a lot of people should’ve helped out a bit more during that whole thing, but whatever. What were we talking about again?” Theo: “...I have no idea.” Jester: “I could’ve sworn I came here for a reason...” (Spots the undead army behind Theo and snaps his fingers) “Oh, right! You were about to get gored by a sword!” Theo: “Yeah. Uh, thanks for the save, I guess?” Jester: “Eh, it’s no big deal. I had to bail your father out way more than this when he was your age. Impressive, considering you kinda have the disadvantage of actually permanently dying if your head asplodes.” Theo: “Actually, I have regenerative nanobots that would-” Jester: “Kick in about five seconds after your brain doesn’t exist no more. You’d just be a weird headless zombie. With an Omnitrix.” Theo: “...Oh.” There were a few moments of awkward silence. Theo: “Wait, didn’t you mention my dad? Do you know him?” Jester: “Know him? Kid, he’s the one who inspired me to make this body in the first place!” Theo: “Hm. Adding that onto the list of things he never told me about...” Jester: “Yeah, I admit, even speaking as an insanity demon, I think that whole situation is nuts.” Theo: “Speaking as a what now?” Jester: (Ignores Theo and pulls an envelope out of one of his coat pockets) “Give this letter to your old man when you get the chance, will ya? I think it’ll help a bit.” The Jester handed the letter to Theo, who placed it in one of his shorts pockets. Theo: “I have so many questions right now.” Jester: “Which you can ask your father when you have the time. Right now, I don’t really get to spend that much time chatting with people before the big guy upstairs starts getting cranky with me, so I just need to do this real quick.” Theo: “Do wha-” The Jester teleported over to Theo and grabbed the StarTrix dial, twisting it as if he was entering the code on a combination lock. After a few seconds, the dial clicked and rose into active position. Jester: “When you’re ready, just press that down and you should be good to go. Ta-ta for now, but I hope to see you again soon!” With that, The Jester vanished, causing time to resume flowing as normal. After looking around confusedly for a few seconds, the undead horde caught sight of Theo and began advancing towards him again. Theo: “Oh for the love of...alright, here goes nothing, I guess.” Theo slammed down on the raised StarTrix dial. Almost immediately, he felt his body being flooded with energy from the StarTrix. Theo: “What the hell?!” Theo’s body began glowing with an aura of golden light, with the purple streak in his hair and his purple eyes suddenly turning to a brilliant gold. After taking a moment to examine himself, he turned towards the advancing undead army, cracking his knuckles. Theo: “Well, I certainly wasn’t expecting to get a Human STAR form anytime soon, but hey, why not?” The nearest zombie suddenly lunged at him, its arms reaching for his head. Instinctively directing extra solar energy to his right arm, his fist began glowing with sunlight, prompting him to counter the zombie’s attack with a swift blow to its jaw. The zombie’s head flew off and landed somewhere behind it, shortly followed by the zombie’s body going limp and collapsing onto the ground. Theo: (Grins) “Oh, this is gonna be good.” ---- to Aeron staring at Rozalio in dumbfounded confusion. After a few moments, he snaps out of it and quickly jumps back a few feet. Aeron: “Overtide!” A purple and blue humanoid alien made of water and ice exploded into existence in a burst of red energy. It swiftly created a ring of running water to surround the area a few feet around Aeron. Aeron: “Ha! Vampires can’t cross running water!” Rozalio: “Perhaps not. However...” Rozalio suddenly blinked into existence right in front of Aeron, bypassing the water barrier. Rozalio: “Water doesn’t flow in stopped time!” Before he could react, Rozalio grabbed a hold of Aeron’s hoodie and lifted him up into the air by the neck. His expression turned to one of anger, showing the first emotion he had displayed since Aeron had entered the castle. Rozalio: (Angrily) “Oh, ye black-hearted filth that would seek to destroy me in my own home for the sake of killing another, may you never feel the warmth of the sun again!” Aeron: “What are you-” Aeron was interrupted by Rozalio plunging his hand into his chest, then throwing him out the nearest window. His body crashed through the stone ceiling of a hallway below, creating a person-sized hole in the rock. Rozalio looked down at the damage and sighed, turned away from the window. Rozalio: (Mildly annoyed) “Yet another thing for me to fix. This place truly does seem abandoned.” Major Events *Details about Nova's mother are revealed. *Nova's Plumber Team officially deem themselves the "Alpha Team" *Rozalio Gold and Undead Ed make their Star Spirit debuts. *Moranna is revealed to have been investigating the Assassin's Guild. *The Assassin's Guild appears for the first time since Rebooted and is fully disbanded. *The Jester makes his Star Spirit debut. *Theo's Human STAR form is unlocked *The StarTrix Requiem's nanomachines have their "failsafe" activated. Characters Protagonists *Theodore Logical *Nova Eldridge *Herc *F3 *Pyros *Reaper *Moranna Ceres Antagonists *Aeron *Ego *Undead Army *Assassin's Guild Neutral *Rozalio Gold *The Jester Minor *Alpha Aliens Used By Theo *Final Countdown *Kugelblitz By Aeron *Clockwork *Overtide Category:Earth-83